Electric railway



Patented Feb. 2|, I899.

D R A W D 0 0 W S F n R W ELECTRIC RAILWAY. (Application mm". 29, was.

(No Model.)

WiZiZolfea UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM R. WOODWARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND FREDERICK S. IVOOD- WARD, OF GRANITEVILLE, MISSOURI, ASSIGNORS OF ELEVEN-TWENTI- ETHS TO HENRY F. COOK, OF SAG HARBOR, NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPEGIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,009, dated February 21, 1899.

Application filed More]! 29, 1898.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM R. W001)- WARD, residing at New York, (Brooklyn,) in the county of Kings and State of New York, and FREDERICK S. WOODWARD, residing at Graniteville, in the county of Iron and State of Missouri, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Railways, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in electric railways, and more particularly to an improved third-rail system, the object of the invention being to provide means for placing the successive sections of a third-rail system into or out of connection with a supply-wire as the car or train passes on and off such sections in such manner as to permit of the sections being of any desired length and also to permit of equally efficient operation in either direction of movement of the car or train.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specificationjigure l is a partlysectional side view, more or less diagrammatic, of a portion of track and a car running thereon, showing the application thereto of our improved system. Fig. 2 is an enlarged representation of the lever mechanism and the devices on the car for operating same. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the switch. Fig. 4 is a detail view of portions of the operatinglevers and the mechanical connections attached thereto. Figs. 5 and 6 showmodifications.

The third rail, which may be located between or at one side of the track-rails, one of which is indicated at Bin Fig. 1, may be composed of successive lengths 1 2 3 4 of rails of the usual shape or of any suitable shape. Any desired number of these rail lengths may be connected together by suitable bonds or connections to form a single third-rail section. In Fig. l we have indicated two lengths 2 3 connected together to form one section by means of a bond or connection 7, the adjacent rail length 1 or 4 on either hand being unconnected to these rail lengths, and thus belonging to different sections. At the dividing or separating pointsbetween the successive sections and preferably alongside of the track Serial No. 675,591. (No model.)

are located the boxes 0 O for containing the operating-levers. Each box may contain two levers D D or D D, corresponding, respectively, to the two sections whose ends are adjacent thereto. Thus box 0 contains lever D, corresponding to and located beyond the end ofsection 1,and lever Dicorresponding to and located beyond the end of section 2 3. Similarly box 0 contains lever D corresponding to and located beyond the other end of section 2, and lever D connected to and located beyond the end of section 4. Each lever D D D or D has pivoted at opposite ends thereof rods d 01 which extend through the top of the box into the path of an operating-shoe on the car. Levers D D 850., are fast on shafts or center pins d, which also carry levers E E E F, corresponding to the respective levers D D D D At any convenient point-as, for example, midway between the lever-boxes are arranged the switch-boxes, of which one is indicated at F. A switch-lever H, supported Within this box, carries or operates a contact 8, adapted to open and close the connection between two switch-contacts 9 10, of which contact 9 is connected to the corresponding third-rail section-in this case the section com posed of rail lengths 2 3while contactlO is connected to the insulated main conductor or feeder 11. 'We have here shown the connection from contact 9 to rail-sections 2 3 as offected by the same wire or bond 7 that connects the two rail-sections together. This switch-box is operated from either hand by means of chains, wires, or other flexible connections K K, attached to the switch-lever H and to the operating-levers D D It will be observed that the operating-levers D D which are connected to the switch controlling the section 2 3, are beyond the end of such section on either hand, so that the switch will be operated before the car or train passes on the section from either direction. Similarly the operating-levers D D, which are connected to and operate chains or wires which pass to the respective sections 1 4 on either side of section 2 3, are located beyond the ends of these sections 1 4, so as to control same in advance in a similar manner. The eifect of this arrangement is also to maintain the closure of circuit to the respective sections until after the car has left same, as will be hereinafter explained.

The operating device on the car consists of a shoe S with a doubly-inclined bottom and carried from a part of the car, such as the truck-frame t, by means of upwardly-yielding supports, such as bolts r, with springs to intervening between the truck-frame and the shoe, so as to press the latter downwardly.

YVhen a car or train passes over the operating mechanism above described, the inclined bottom of the shoe S strikes any of the rods (1 d which may at that time be projecting up into its path and depresses same. Such depression of any of the rods, as (1, results in a simultaneous elevation of the other rod, as (Z attached to the opposite end of the same lever. Antifriction-rolls d may be provided on the top of the several rods to enable the shoe to travel over same more smoothly. If at any time too strong a pressure is brought upon the shoe and the vertically-sliding rods by reason of tipping of the ear or of inequalities of the road-bed, &c., the springs to will allow the shoes to yield upwardly, and thus relieve the strain.

Assuming now that the car is passing onto the portion of track indicated in Fig. 1 from the left, being about to leave the end length ljof the left-hand section, the shoe S will next strike rod (1 on the same lever D and depressing said rod will reverse the lever D and throw the switch-lever H into the position closing the connection from main conductor 11, thus rendering the next succeeding section 2 3alive. The car then leaves section 1, which is still alive, and passes onto section 2 3, and the shoe S then strikes the rod d of lever D, which if not already depressed will be depressed by the shoe, which latter then passes over rod (1 of said lever (Z thus turnin g said lever into the position indicated in Fig. 1, which corresponds to an open condition of the switch of the preceding section 1, thus cutting said section off from the main conductor. The car may now pass over the section 2 3, and when it reaches the end thereof it will operate the lever D so as to cut in section 4, j ust as above described forsection 2 3. Then passing onto said section D it operates lever D in a similar manner to that in which it operated lever D, and will thus render section 2 3 dead. It will be noticed that the levers D D are connected to the switchlever H in reverse manner, the chains or wires K K from lever D being connected to lever II without crossing, while the chains from lever D are crossed. This is necessary, because it is required that the switch 8 9 10 should be opened after the car passes olf of the section 2 3 at either end, and thus when the ends of said levers farthest from this section (the outer ends) are depressed, and conversely the switch should be closed when the car passes onto this section from either end-that is, when the ends of the levers D or D which are nearer the section 2 3 (the inner ends) are depressed. The inner ends of one lever thus correspond in action to the inner ends of the other lever, and their outer ends also correspond, and it is therefore necessary that the levers should be oppositely connected to the switch-lever, as stated.

It is clear from the above that the car before it passes onto a section in either direction will close the connection to such section from the feeder, and after it passes onto such section from either direction it will operate the switch of the section it has just left to break connection to such preceding section. It will also be noted that the sections are not limited in length by any consideration as to the length of a car or train, but only by the distance at which it may be convenient to operate the switches by means of the mechanical connections shown. Such mechanical connections may be made to work positively and eiiiciently over distances much greater than the length of a car or even of the usual train, such as a passenger-train, so that the number of switching devices is much less than in a system limited to sections of a car or train length or less. This results not only in greater economy in installation, but in decreased expense of maintenance and repair and in diminution of the noise and wear due to the striking of the numerous successive switch-open ating devices.

In order to take up slack or tighten the chains or wires or mechanical connections K K, we prefer to provide same with suitable length-adj usting devices, such as turnbuckles 7c, and springs may also be attached to or inserted in these mechanical connections to impart a certain amount of elasticity to same, thus enabling the parts to yield more or less under excessive pressure, and thereby avoid undue strains. These features are more clearly shown in Fig. 4.

The operating-levers may be variously arranged and may obviously take the form of plates, disks, or wheels, their motion, however, in any case being vibratory and their function being that of levers whatever their shape may be. In Figs. 5 and 6 wehave shown modified arrangements of these levers. The rods (1' d are omitted in the form shown in Fig. 5, the lever D itself carrying the f rictionrollers d to engage with the shoe on the car and being horizontally arranged, so that the passage of the car leaves the lever turned one way or the other, according to which end was struck last and therefore according to the direction of motion of the car. The shaft (Z in this case is shown as of greater length and carries at its other end the vertical lever E, connected by chains K K to the switch, as above described, the operation of this device beingidentical with that above described, except that the shoe strikes directly on the levers instead of operating same through the rods (1' (1 As shown in Fig. (3, the lovers D and E can be combined in a single lever D which may be made to operate in a substantially vertical position, the upper end of this lever carrying a head 02 which engages with the shoe on the car, so that said lever will be thrown in one direction or the other, according to the direction of motion of the car, it being understood that the springs on the shoe in the car will permit the same to ride over the top of this lever after the latter has been operated.

The car or electrically-propelled vehicle that carries the shoe S should of course be the motive car of the train in case there is more than one car, and this car should also carry means (indicated at S) for engaging with the third rail to take off the operating-current therefrom.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an electric-railway system, the combination with a main conductor and a series of stationary insulated third-rail sections, of

switches controlling the connection between such sections and the main conductor, mechanical operating devices located beyond each end of each section and reversely connected to such switches, and an electricallypropelled vehicle having means for taking current from. said third-rail sections and provided with means such as a shoe for engaging with the aforesaid switch-operating devices, to close the switch before the vehicle passes onto said section from either direction, and to open said section after the vehicle passes off of said section in either direction.

2. In an electric-railway system, the combination with a main conductor and a series of stationary insulated third-rail sections, of switches controlling the connection between such sections and the main conductor, operating-levers of which one is supported at a point beyond each end of each sect-ion, mechanical connections connecting said operatinglevers in reverse manner to the said switch, and an electrically-propelled vehicle having means for taking current from the said third-rail sections and provided with a doubly-inclined shoe adapted to engage with said operating-levers to cause the main conductor to be connected to each third-rail section before the vehicle passes thereon from either direction, and to disconnect such conductor from said section afterthe train passes from same, in either direction.

3. In an electric third-rail system, the combination with a main conductor and a series of stationary insulated third-rail sections, of an operating-lever located beyond each end of each section, a box containing said lever, rods extending upwardly from said lever through the top of said box, a switch controlling the connection from said main conductor to each section, mechanical connections such as chains, connecting each switch in reverse manner to the two operating-levers of the corresponding sections, and an elec said third-rail sections and provided with a doubly-inclined shoe adapted to engage with said operating-levers to cause the main conductor to be connected to each third-rail section before the vehicle passes thereon from either direction, and to disconnect such conductor from said section after the train passes from same, in either direction, such shoe being provided with springs whereby it is enabled to yield vertically.

5. In an electric-railway system, the combination with a main conductor and a series of stationary insulated third-rail sections, of switches controlling the connection between such sections and the main conductor, operating-levers of which one is supported at a point beyond each end of each section, mechanical connections connecting said operating-levers in reverse manner to the said switch, and an electrically-propelled vehicle having means for taking current from the said third-rail sections and provided with a doubly-inclined shoe adapted to engage with said operating-levers to cause the main conductor to be connected to each third-rail section before the vehicle passes thereon from either direction, and to disconnect such conductor from said section after the train passes from same, in either direction, the aforesaid operating-levers being provided with antifriction-rollers whereby the passage of the shoe over them is facilitated.

6. In an electric-railway system, the combination with a main conductor and a series of stationary insulated third-rail sections, of switches controlling the connection between such sections and the main conductor, operating-levers of which one is supported at a point beyond each end of each section, mechanical connections provided with lengthadjusting devices such as turnbuckles, and connecting said levers in reverse manner to said switch, and an electrically-propelled vehicle having means for taking current from the said third-rail sections and provided with a doubly-inclined shoe adapted to engage with said operating-levers to cause the main conductor to be connected to each third-rail section before the vehicle passes thereon from either direction, and to disconnect such conductor from said section after the train passes from same, in either direction.

7. In an electric-railway system, the com engage with said operating-levers to cause the main conductor to be connected to each third-rail section before the vehicle passes thereon from either direction, and to disconnect such conductor from said section after the train passes from same, in either direction.

WILLIAM R. WOODWARD. FREDERICK S. WOODWARD. WVitnesses:

HARRY E. KNIGHT, M. V. BIDGOOD. 

